Hindi, Marathi, English: The top three dailies in IRS round 2

That Hindi dailies continue to be highest-read publication among all dailies did not come as a surprise.

What came as a mild shock was that even Marathi dailies are more popular than English dailies, as per the IRS round 2 reports. One is not sure about the advertisers but sociologists are clearly going to love this.

Hindi dailies with a combined readership of 5.74 crores are clearly the rightful claimants of the number one position, while Marathi dailies have a collective readership of 1.82 crores in comparison to English dailies, which have a total readership of 1.67 crores.

Among the Marathi dailies, Lokmat has got an overall readership 72.84 lakhs. Sakal comes in next with a readership of 49.34 lakhs. Punya Nagari is third-highest Marathi daily with a readership of 23.34 lakhs. Pudhari comes in next with a readership of 22.99 lakhs followed by Loksatta and Maharashtra Times with a readership of 20.22 lakhs and 13.51 lakhs, respectively.

Other language dailies continue to be behind English dailies. Malayalam dailies are at the fourth position with a readership of 1.54 crores, followed by Tamil dailes which have a readership of 1.22 crores.

Among the Malayalam dailies, Malayala Manoroma leads the list with a readership of 92.07 lakhs. Mathrubhumi is in the second position with a readership of 73.65 lakhs followed by Deshabhimani with a readership of 21.95 lakhs. Kerala Kaumudi is the in the fourth position with a total readership of 11.45 lakhs.

Telugu and Gujarati dailies are at the sixth and the seventh positions with a readership of 1.05 crores and 1.04 crores, followed by Bengali and Kannada dailies with a readership of 89.19 lakhs and 85.93 lakhs, respectively.

Among the Gujarati dailies, Gujarat Samachar leads with a readership of 56.65 lakhs. The second position is held by Sandesh with a readership of 42.04 lakhs. Divya Bhskar, which is part of Dainik Bhaskar group, comes in next with a readership of 22.15 lakhs.

Among the Bengali-speaking population, Ananada Bazar Patrika undoubtedly leads the list with a readership of 51.18 lakhs. Among the other Bengali dailies, Bartaman comes in next with a readership of 30.76 lakhs followed by Sangbad Partidin with a readership of 14.58 lakhs.

Surprisingly in West Bengal, The Times Of India, Kolkata has more readership than The Statesman; The Statesman has a readership of 6.2 lakhs as compared to TOI Kolkata's readership of 6.76 lakhs. However in this region, The Telegraph leads the list among English dailies with a readership of 10.24 lakhs.

Among the six-day dailies, meanwhile, Gujarati publications have a readership of 3.76 lakhs followed by Bengali publications with a combined readership of 3.04 lakhs. Hindi six-day dailies have a readership of 2.58 lakhs.

Among the weekly publications, the top three languages are Malayalam, English and Hindi with a readership of 82.66 lakhs, 60.20 lakhs and 47.06 lakhs, respectively.